Eng Wai wrote:
>Eygiptian Arabic is the Arabic understood by every Arab, due to the same reason.

Let me add my two cents: Egyptian Arabic is "considered" the "standard" Arabic learned in the Arab world ! Similarly Mandarin (level 7) is considered 'standard' Mandarin taught in schools. However, what levels can students achieve in another matter
There is a saying about Mandarin: Wu3 hua1 ba1 men2???? (I did not make this up, it was older Mandarin speakers told me) ! That's why I said there are 9 levels of Mandarin !

Cantonese from KL is very close to Cantonese from Guang Zhou if the speakers are native Cantonese !

No no no, Egyptian Arabic is not comparable to standard Mandarin at all. Egyptian Arabic is widely understood mainly because of the thriving entertainment world, full stop. Syrian Arabic are widely understood compared to Libyan Arabic also for the same reason. Full stop. The role of media is the kingpin of it, thrid full stop.

Egyptian Arabic is not considered as the standard Arabic at all in Arabic world. Instead Egyptian Arabic is one of the most wayward Arabics. The standard Arabic is the Qurannic Arabic, something comparable to Shakespear English. Other than that, Arabic spoken in Arabic worlds are like Hokkien spoken in Hokkien worlds, Amoy Hokkien, Penang Hokkien, CHiangChiu Hokkien, Quan Zhou Hokkiens.

"Cantonese from KL is very close to Cantonese from Guang Zhou if the speakers are native Cantonese "

In malaysia, one need not be a native cantonese to speak cantonese well. While it is true that our ancestors can only speak their dialect well. The younger generation speak dialect according to which city in malaysia they and born and raised. For example, my relatives are min bei but can only speak cantonese.

I read from somewhere there is a small Hakka spot in Sabah. It didn't mention where exactly, but I hope I could find out soon.

Johor people speak Hokkien also. BUt their hokkien is much more closer to Klang Hokkien than Peanng Hokkien. Penang Hokkkien is very unique in Malaysia, indeed the whole HOkkien world, it is a hybrid of different Hokkiens (Chiang Chiu (dominating) and quan zhou) but the majority of Penang Hokkien people are quan zhou descendat, not chiang chiu descendant.

I converse to all Chinese descendent of Sabahan (Anyone who was borne in Sabah of Malaysia are Sabahan) in Hakka, at home, at school, in the public and even in the bank. People begin to speak Cantonese due to early TV station were lack of good shows. Since the introduction of video tape recorder, older Chinese population like to watch Hong Kong video tapes series in which mainly spoken in Cantonese, this influence many youngster including myself to speak some Hong Kong style Cantonese. There weren't many Cantonese families in West cost of Sabah before the 80s. Hakka and Cantonise were widely spoken in East coast of Sabah among Chinese Sabahan but the main languages are still Malay, Mandarin and English. I prefer to read web page written in traditional/Big5 characters as it retains the real meaning of each Chinese word. Chinese is an easy to learn symbolic language.

Still true: Almost all Sabah-born Chinese regardless of whatever dialect group speak Hakka of the Bao On variety (the same as that spoken in the Shenzhen area and Hong Kong / New Territories). Cantonese is spoken in Sandakan ("Little Hong Kong") where a lot of Cantonese immigrants settled. Mandarin is widely spoken on the West Coast due to the influence of the only substantial group of immigrants from North China to immigrate to S.E. Asia (they were from Tianjin near Beijing) and also Chinese school teachers from China in the post-war years. Later on, when Chinese from Peninsular Malaysia settled in Sabah, Mandarin became even more popular because the Hokkien speaking people have to use Mandarin because Hokkien is not understood in Sabah. Technically, a Chinese from Sabah if he/she has learnt Cantonese and Mandarin locally (from Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu) speaks them in a tonally correct way, best under the circumstances.